Top 5 Video Advertising Network Recommendations July 2012

On Friday, I talked about the general online video numbers from comScore and, as always, I’m here to talk specifically about the online video advertising network numbers. This month’s numbers are a bit weird because Brightroll was left out of them. Without them there were just 9.6 billion video ads shown (they would have been about 1.4 billion alone). The reason for the omission of Brightroll?

the BrightRoll Video Network property had an implementation error with its video tags

I wonder if that’s code for, “there’s some issue between us and them…” because they’ve been working properly, the video tags I mean, for quite some time, right?

Even without them being included this month, I’m sure they’ve maintained their large reach and low frequency because, as Tod Sacerdoti told me in an interview once, that’s what their clients have tasked them with doing.

comScore Video Ad Property Numbers

Here are the straight comScore numbers for the month that show Google not only dominates the video viewing number now, but also the video advertising numbers with Hulu in second and Adap.tv in third. Now Brightroll would have probably slotted in above Hulu pushing everyone else down, so keep that in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these are just in-stream ads. So that means only pre, mid and post-roll ads. I’m not even sure they are including video ads shown in their own player as they might consider that a ‘branded player.’

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* ViewedJuly 2012Total U.S. – Home and Work LocationsAd Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included)Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property

Video Ads (000)

Total Ad Minutes (MM)

Frequency (Ads per Viewer)

% Reach Total U.S. Population

Total Internet : Total Audience

9,607,191

3,902

60.7

51.6

Google Sites

1,521,328

166

19.8

25.0

Hulu

1,221,599

521

46.4

8.6

Adap.tv†

1,132,977

627

18.2

20.3

SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace†

1,050,727

547

23.8

14.4

TubeMogul Video Ad Platform**

830,406

275

14.3

18.9

Tremor Video**

701,176

368

14.2

16.1

Specific Media**

694,487

321

7.5

30.3

Auditude, Inc.**

677,243

230

13.6

16.3

ESPN

454,946

159

26.1

5.7

AOL, Inc.

383,675

193

10.3

12.2

*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.**Indicates video ad network†Indicates video ad exchange

Top Five Video Ad Networks Recommendations for Ad Placement

It feels weird to do this part of my analysis without having Brightroll to consider as they’ve always ranked in my top three.

#1 Specific Media – Still Kings of the Hill

Again this month, with an awesomely low 7.5 ads per viewer (#1) and a pretty large 30.3% reach (#1), best in both categories, is Specific Media. Sure, they only showed about 694 million ads, but those ads are seen by more people and seen less often than anywhere else in the chart this month. That makes them my number one recommendation on where to put your ads, because they have the largest audience and the fewest repetitions. So you should be able to find some inventory you want to place against and an audience you want to target.

In my personal algorithm for these rankings, there is a massive, massive gap between first and the others this month, because of the exclusion of Brightroll from the numbers. Therefore, I’m going to step outside the formula for a second.

#2 Brightroll – Conspicuous by Their Absence

Let’s face it, not being in the comScore Video Metrix numbers on video advertising networks for a month is not grounds for dumping the video ad network that works for you. Brightroll works for a whole lot of brands, agencies and advertisers and that’s good enough for me. Considering that they ranked #1 in reach for the past 6 months, nearing 40%, and that they have been fighting with Specific Media for the lowest frequency the whole year, I’m keeping them in the number two spot for this month as well. I highly doubt that their frequency skyrocketed or that their reach dropped off. Sometimes, you just have to go with your gut. But my gut bases its decisions on what my brain already knows and that’s the fact that Brightroll is a good place to put your video ads.

Now, we can move on to the rest of the numbers-based decisions.

#3 Google – A Good Balance

While Google‘s frequency is steadily rising and reached 19.8 this month, it’s reach is rising as well, albeit slower, and hit 25% in the month. That was good enough to put it in third place when you take into account that they showed some 1.5 billion video ads. They were second in reach this month and seventh in frequency.

#4 TubeMogul – New Kids on the Block

TubeMogul isn’t new by any definition of the word, except that they haven’t been in the top five recommendations for some time. So welcome. With a reach of 19.8 and a frequency of 14.3 they edged out the competition by a small margin, but the big difference in ads shown added a bit to their push upward. 830 million video ads is nothing to sniff at. Fourth in reach and fifth in frequency.

#5 Auditude – Hanging in there

Auditude was in fifth last month, and is again this month. While their reach dropped a bit (0.4%) to 16.3% their frequency didn’t rise massively and they ended up at 13.6 videos per viewer (up 1.6). Overall, they were fifth in reach and third best in frequency. They had 677 million ads for the month.

Missing from the top 5 this month is Adap.tv who lost almost 5% in reach and jumped up 3.3 ads per viewer. That has placed them in nearly a dead heat, according to my formula, with AOL and Tremor Video for what would be sixth place overall.

I’m doing some tweaking on the formula yet because I don’t think it takes enough factors into account so I’m trying to build one that will do just that. Here are the month-to-month trend charts that were requested by someone so you can more easily track performance in all three categories, frequency, reach and video ads.

Frequency Trends

Reach Trends

Video Ad # Trends

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